partypoker winning war vs. bots, eliminate more bot accounts during July raid

In the ongoing war between bots and humans, partypoker took another huge step in the right direction after it removed 121 bots in July 2019. This is the largest crackdown since earlier this year when partypoker revealed their newly formed Poker Fraud Team eliminated 277 bot accounts over a four-month period.

Ever think you're losing the war against the machines? Do you really want to listen to Captain Beefheart next? How the heck did the Spotify bots figure out that weird selection? What is in my current virtual record collection that would let some piece of AI think it knows me that well to suggest I'd want to hear me some Captain Beefheart? Then again, the online poker bots are much sharper and don't really have to predict tastes as much as play optimal poker while trying to disguise itself as human. OMG, did some superdork really teach its AI how to donk bet a flop? How about four-bet shove with nada?

All kidding aside, the folks in the security department at partypoker (aka Poker Fraud Team) should all get a raise and a paid holiday to Vegas. Security is a vital element to every single one of our digital transactions, which is why we a special layer of security when we play online poker because it provides us with ubiquitous comfort knowing about a heavy layer of security operating in the shadows to take down the bad guys. This is something that we really do not want to talk about, whether its online poker or random hackers jacking your credit card numbers.

It's sort of like that scene in "A Few Good Men" where Colonel Jesup screams, "You need me on that wall!"

While most of y'all were basking in the warm sun during your summer holiday or trying to count the days you're kids go back to school, the Poker Fraud staff at partypoker were hard at work in an ongoing war against the bots.

We're in the earliest days, but most critical moment, in the ultimate war of humans vs. the machines. The end scenario is something out of the Matrix or Terminator franchise movies when the machines create more machines, but only keep some humans alive to help do their dirty work. Otherwise, we're just a cancer to all living (and digital things) and completely useless to the futuristic dystopia when AI runs the planet and humans become pests like rodents or gnats.

In an effort to keep bots out of the online poker ecosystem, partypoker went on another major raid in July. The elite crack crew at partypoker Poker Fraud eliminated 121 known bots last month. According to partypoker blog, they seized and confiscated $76,267 and €88,351 from bot accounts.

Apparently, 89 fugazzi accounts were operating on the normal dot.com site while 32 bots were playing on dot.eu.

By the way if you see something suspicious at the tables, contact reports@partypoker.com.

Earlier this year, partypoker revealed a huge sting operation that began in December 2018 and lasted through the first three months of 2019. During that four-month period, partypoker's special Poker Fraud team and security squad shut down 277 accounts and confiscated almost three-quarters of a million. Holy cowballs, Batman!!

According to partypoker blog from several months ago, "partypoker can disclose it has closed 277 'bot' accounts between 1 December 2018 and 31 March 2019 and redistributed $734,852.15 in associated funds, as it continues to address issues of fairness and strives to make the poker site a safer place to play."

They initially said that 75% of the bots shut down in their first quarter raid were due from the hard work from their special Poker Fraud Team.

According to partypoker's Patrick Leonard, "Two years ago it wouldn't have been possible, but after seeing the security department first hand, the team working there and the tools they are using, I'm very confident now that they can tackle people trying to play against the rules. In my opinion it isn't worth somebody trying to bend the rules because, in the words of Liam Neeson: 'They will find you, they will catch you and they will... ban you!'"

OMG, Leonard dropped a Liam Neeson quote. The ongoing war continues. Now if the US of A can only hire partypoker Fraud Team to monitor its elections, we might finally get some real results after two decades or more of shenanigans.

Judge William B. Shubb of the Eastern District of California released a 24-page opinion to dismiss the charges against a trio of defendants in the Mike Postle cheating case. Postle got caught winning $250,000 on live streams at the Stones Gambling Hall when Veronica Brill tipped off the poker community, who in turn did their due diligence and got to the bottom of the cheating scandal. Brill filed a lawsuit against Postle, poker rom manager Justin Kuraitis, and the Stones Gambling Hall (outside of Sacramento, California).

All eyes were on Las Vegas at Midnight as several casino reopened for the first time in 78 days since Governor Sisolak shuttered all casinos in the state of Nevada at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic in mid-March. Casinos on Fremont Street in downtown Las Vegas were among the first to open, along with locals' casinos in the burbs. The Bellagio reopened, and any more Strip casinos will open on Friday.

Russia's Artur Martirosian cashed eight times for nearly $1.8 million to secure the leaderboard title at the 2020 Super High Roller Bowl Online. Martirosian edged out Vitkor Blom, who won two titles down the stretch and finished second overall. Martirosian wonEvent #16 $10K NL 6-Maxand finished second a couple other times to top the leaderboard.

Stanley Ho, one of the wealthiest men in China, passed away at age 98 according to a statement from his daughter, Pansy. Ho had become the King of Gambling in Asia after he envisioned a gambling mecca in the Pearl River Delta to rival Las Vegas. Ho's company, SJM Holdings, owned 20 casinos in Macau and even one in North Korea. At the time of Ho's death, SJM Holdings had an estimated value at $6 billion.

No shocker here, but PokerStars officially postponed their second installment of the PokerStars Players Championship (PSPC). The $25K buy-in 2020 PSPC had been originally scheduled to coincide with the EPT Barcelona at the Barcelona Casino in late August. The PSPC will take place sometime in 2021 in Barcelona with a date yet to be determined. Platinum Passes are valid for the new dates and they will be running 80 additional chances to win one of the 400 passes.

The "high" version of the $10,300 buy-in 2020 SCOOP Main Event came to an end with Belarus' alexgirs outlasting 609 players to win the title and $920,595. The final three chopped including Pablo 'pabritz' Brito in second place and Alex 'dynoalot' Difelice in third. Also, at the final table were Pieter 'XMorphineX' Aerts, Daniel 'Oxota' Dvoress, Michael 'imluckbox' Addamo, Max 'goodeh99' Silver, and Benjamin 'bencb789' Rolle. PokerStars ambassador Lex Veldhuis went deep and set Twitch stream records along the way, but the Dutch pro busted in 15th place.

Poker returns to the sunshine state this week. A trio of poker rooms in Florida are set to open this week. Derby Lane in Tampa Bay, Seminole Hard Rock in Hollywood, and Bestbet Jacksonville in Jacksonville will all reopen under strict post-pandemic guidelines. Last week, casinos reopened in Deadwood, South Dakota. And now more states will slowly return to action, including tribal casinos in California.

Over the weekend, pandemic poker series were in full swing. 2-time WSOP bracelet winner, Elio Fox, won a 25K WPT Online Super High Roller for $565K and outlasted a tough final table that also included Tim Adams and Chris Hunichen. British pro Charlie Carrel, who won the 2017 SCOOP Main Event, binked his third SCOOP title with a victory in Event #70 Hight $530 NLHE PKO. Meanwhile over at GGPoker, a player under the screenname '800-522-4700' faded a field of 505 hopefuls to ship the WSOP Super Circuit $25K High Roller Championship for nearly $2.2 million and a coveted WSOP Circuit ring.

PokerStars will extend 2020 SCOOP because it has been such a huge success while the gaming world is under lockdown and quarantine. SCOOP is now 124 events that will run through the end of May, with an additional $50 million in guaranteed prize pools. Meanwhile, Steve O'Dwyer took down a 25K High Roller for his first SCOOP title and outlasted a final table that included Fedor Holz, Talal Shakerchi, and Ole Schemion.

Over 20 casinos are currently open in the United States of America with a handful more expected to open this weekend and next week. Several Las Vegas casinos, such as Venetian and Palazzo, are planning on reopening in June despite the fact that the USA leads the world in COVID-19 and COVID-related deaths. Casinos in Arizona and Louisiana are set to reopen by next week, with many other casinos rushing to get ready for a June return.

PokerStars hosted the StarsCALL for Action celebrity tournament with $1 million donated to CARE International and various coronavirus charities. David Costabile, an actor most-known for his work on "Billions" and "The Wire", took down the tournament and won $100,000 for his chosen charity: World Central Kitchen. Also, at the final table were Douglas Costa, Jen Shahade, Casey Affleck, Chris Moneymaker, and Mike Tindall.

PokerStars is hosting a star-studded charity poker tournament to assist coronavirus relief. The 'StarsCALL for Action' takes place on Saturday, May 9 starting at 2pm ET and it will be available to watch on multiple platforms including Facebook, Twitch, and YouTube. There will be over $1 million (to charity) up for grabs. Some of the stars slated to play are 'Rounders' screenplay co-writer, Brian Koppleman, and a well-known Hollywood stars such as Don Cheadle, Jon Hamm, Jason Alexander, and the guy who played Ross from 'Friends'.

Three casinos in the USA will reopen to gamblers in Deadwood, South Dakota. Meanwhile, Derby Lane in St. Petersburg, Florida decided to hold off on reopening their poker room this week. They will reopen the greyhound racetrack without any live spectators but decided against hosting poker games. Heading into the second weekend of May, all major casinos are closed in North America, especially in Las Vegas and Atlantic City and none of their casinos planning on opening before Memorial Day.

With the coronavirus pandemic shuttering casinos across the globe, some casino operators are rolling the dice and reopening amidst the coronavirus outbreak. Three casinos in the Czech Republic will reopen their doors on Monday, May 11, including the King's Resort Rozvadov, Admiral Casino Rozvadov, and the King's Casino Prague.

Even though he's "retired" Fedor Holz and his training site, Poker Code, signed a deal with GGPoker as the online poker site continues to sign high-profile online players like Elky and Felipe Ramos and big-time ambassadors such as Daniel Negreanu.

The World Poker Tour and partypoker teamed up to create the first-ever WPT Online Series, which will include 40 events and $35 million in guaranteed prize pools. Plus, there's the $5 million guaranteed Main Event that has a $3,200 buy-in and four starting flights. The Main Event champ also wins a seat into the season-ending WPT Tournament of Champions. The series is already underway and runs from May 3 to May 30 only at partypoker.

PokerStars.FR released a special format for their French players called La Course. This cycling-themed event features a 4-person progressive knockoutSNG and Shootout format with randomized PKO bounty prizes. Players can start this race for a modest entry fee of €1, with various buy-in levels (sprint levels) up to €60. You win the sprint race by reaching a specific monetary number of bounties and can earn up to €100K in bonus prizes.

2020 Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) is upon us! PokerStars will host 80 events for a total of 240 tournaments starting today and running through May 19. There will be over $85 million in guaranteed prize pools. Click here for more info.

Phil Galfond will take on ActionFreak in the next installment of the Galfond Challenge over at Run It Once Poker. This heads-up PLO series, the third overall, will take place at €150/€300 stakes for only 15,000 hands. The two have an even money side bet worth €150,000. The first day of action lasted a brief time whole ActionFreak experienced technical difficulties. Action between Galfond and ActionFreak will resume on Tuesday.

At the first-ever Poker Masters Online, hosted at partypoker, Alexandros Kolonias cashed in 11 out of 30 events to win nearly $1.3 million and earn the prestigious Purple Jacket for finishing in first place on the PMO Championship Leader Board. Kolonias, the top Greek pro in the world who also won the 2019 WSOP Europe Main Event, locked up the purple jacket with a victory in Event #30 $10K 6-Max.

Flashbacks are always fun, especially monsterpottens involving two well-known pros clashing during an episode of the classic TV Series "High Stakes Poker". In this classic hand, Gus Hansen and Daniel Negreanu squared off in a $575,000pot for the ages, which was the biggest pot in the history of televised poker (at the time). They both flopped sets, but Gus turned quads with pocket fives and fireworks ensued on the river.